Daniella's Ramblings

I have been censored!

Dramatic isn’t it. I am not sure when exactly, but sometime between mid-December 2019 and 17 January 2020 Facebook deemed Daniella’s Ramblings far too seditious for the good people of Facebook to read.

I received no notification. I received no complaint and I received no warning. Facebook unilaterally blocked http://www.daniellaargento.com from Facebook. This means I cannot share my blog posts to Facebook, whether on my personal page, my blog’s Facebook page or anywhere else on Facebook.

This blog has been banned from their platform.

Why? I have no idea. All that I get told when trying to share content is that the web page (ie my blog) has contravened Facebook’s community standards. No explanation, no specific ‘clause’ specified. Nothing.

I have written to Facebook. I have asked for clarification. I have told them if they tell me what I have done wrong I will rectify it. The response? Silence.

This is less than helpful.

I am also frankly amazed. What have I done wrong? I have looked at Facebook’s community standards and I honestly can’t see what I have run up against. My blog is frankly banal. There are no salacious pictures, no calls for the violent overthrow of governments etc. The only possible infringement I can think of relates to copyright… I try to use my own pictures as far as possible and when I do use a picture not owned by me I honestly try to only use copyright ‘free’ images. I suppose it is possible that I may have uploaded something in error, but if I have done so it is a genuine error and easily rectified. I honestly do not know where I have infringed.

I have been thinking about this and it is very strange. It also shows that Facebook’s approach to this issue is somewhat ineffective and highly unjust. It is only fair that you should be given a chance to defend yourself and also a chance (if necessary) to remedy a situation. If someone has reported my site has not occurred to Facebook that the report may have been made maliciously? If someone reported my site and the site was found to be in some way guilty of an offense, is it not in everyone’s bets interests to first notify the owner of the site of its transgression? Failing this surely there needs to be an ‘after the fact’ appeals process? Or a chance at redemption? Surely at the very least Facebook needs to notify you of what you have done wrong so that you can fix it? Imagine if, as a child, everyday your parent punished you without telling you why you were being punished so that you could correct your behaviour? Is that not a fairly textbook definition of abuse?

It seems that this blog has been cast into the Facebook wilderness and here it will stay for quite sometime. This is probably a non-issue as Facebook is growing increasingly irrelevant but it does still smack of injustice and censorship and it therefore grates. Just a little…